A student goes through the salad bar line during lunch at Kennedy Elementary School on Sept. 5, 2012. / File/Press-Gazette Media

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Press-Gazette Media

Students go through the lunch line at Edison Middle School in Green Bay, Tuesday, Oct. 2, 2012. / File/Press-Gazette Media

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Efforts to create healthier lunch menus and increased costs may have scared some students away from cafeteria lines, but school food directors say they’re working to bring them back.

The federal Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 created guidelines for school meals, including requirements to increase the amount of whole grains, fruits and vegetables and to limit calories and sodium content.

Students — and their parents — are paying more for the healthy fare. Most Green Bay area school districts have increased lunch prices by at least a nickle in the past few years, as mandated under the new law, which requires school districts to bring their practices in line with what it costs to prepare healthier meals.

Food services directors say changes had a negative impact.

Most local school districts have felt a pinch. The Green Bay School District served nearly 2 percent fewer lunches from 2011-12 to 2012-13, or about 2.158 million lunches in 2011-12 to 2.118 million the following school year.

Numbers were up for September, however. Green Bay lunch counts for September — the most recent available — were 243,176. That’s up from 229,195 in September 2012, but down from 258,659 in 2011 and 274,491 in 2010.

On average, Green Bay served 224,680 lunches per month in 2010-11; 215,885 in 2011-12 and 211,809 last year.

Smaller districts in Brown County also saw fewer students in lunch lines. The De Pere School District, for example, served 468,044 lunches in 2010-11; 462,364 in 2011-12 and 445,739 last school year.

Districts have gradually increased costs. In the Green Bay district, elementary school students pay $2.25 this school year, compared with $2 in 2011-12 and $1.90 in 2010-11. Middle school students pay $2.50 this year, compared with $2.40 in 2011-12 and $2.35 the year before. Low-income families can receive free lunches for their children or a reduced price of 40 cents per meal.

High school students pay $2.75, compared with $2.60 in 2011-12 and 2010-11.

The De Pere School District has seen similar increased prices, and food services director Deb Pockl said that’s keeping kids away.

“What I’m hearing from parents and families, I’m not getting it’s the fruits and vegetables that are keeping people away,” Pockl said. “It’s more the increased prices.”

School districts used to control increases to meal prices, but they are now determined by a federal formula, she said.

“So we have to increase prices by a nickel or so each year whether we feel we need to or not,” Pockl said. “It was always a local decision. I think it was an unintended consequence of the law.”

She worries parents are sending kids to school with pre-packaged food, such as a Lunchable, which cost about 99 cents.

The federal law required students to choose half cup fruit, even if kids weren’t used to it, she said. But schools are tweaking menus to find items students will enjoy, such as apple slices or orange wedges, she said.

The district also has adjusted the amount of meats and whole grains older students are allowed to satisfy their hunger, Walker said, while keep calorie counts in check.

Pockl said kids enjoy these fresh foods, as well as local produce secured through a farm-to-school program. A number of districts, including Green Bay, De Pere and Ashwaubenon, are participating. The idea is to bring local farm-fresh foods to school cafeterias.

“I think we’re seeing less waste than before,” she said. “Kids are enjoying the foods.”

Betsy Farah, child nutrition coordinator for the Ashwaubenon School District, said that district’s lunch numbers also have gone down. Participation has dropped about 3 percent in both September and October of this year compared with those months in 2012-13, she said.

“We’re trying to offer foods the kids want to eat,” she said. “We’re trying to get those numbers back up. I don’t know if more kids are packing lunches from home, but we’re really working to bring the numbers back.”

Walker noted Green Bay is providing more diversity in school lunches. That includes taste tests at some schools to gauge student preferences. The district has been working to create desserts and breakfast foods that appeal to kids, she said.

“We’re looking at cereal, pancakes, new kinds of yogurt,” Walker said. “A lot of kids like breakfast for lunch. And we look to not only bring in a new products, but change out old products, based on what kids like. We really are trying to provide healthy foods that kids will eat.”